On The Wings Of The Sea
by A Dreaming Songbird
Summary: Jade is a mermaid, happily living a secluded life on an island with her storm spirit brother. But when a storm brings a lost princeling from Derse into her world, that little life is thrown out of balance; then his seer sister pops up, and things get even more complicated! What's a poor girl to do? A lighthearted mermaid!AU written for Rougeofdoom, to be told in 3 parts. DaveJade.
1. Chapter 1: Island

_This story was written for Rougeofdoom, who very patiently put up with me being excited about it but never actually sitting down and editing it. Since it got a bit out of hand, it'll be a threeshot. I'm not totally sure when the rest will be uploaded, but expect it soon! I will try really hard to have it done by the end of the month, promise!_

_I hope you enjoy, Rouge, and thank you so much. _

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><p>To Princess Jade Harley of Prospit, the seashore was always an interesting place. Sometimes, it evoked sadness as she recalled memories, places that were all but lost to her now and forever. Sometimes, it reminded her of the majesty of nature, huge waves rising and crashing upon the rocks and the sand. And sometimes, like today, it brought a smile to her face as the water shimmered brightly in the afternoon sun, seabirds wheeling and calling overhead.<p>

She twisted the ring shining around her finger, still strange in its novelty, and watched the waves. Being in a city, a real, actual city, was also something new to her, and just as exciting as having this ring that marked her engagement! It was silver and set with a big, sea-green stone—something to match her eyes and her personality, Dave had said as he gently slid it onto her finger—with two smaller rubies to frame it. Simple and elegant and oh so symbolic!

The sound of a child bursting into tears nearby distracted her, and Jade quickly turned on her heel to see if she could identify the source. There, a little boy and a little girl, siblings most likely if she went by their similar appearance, were standing on the beach. The girl was crying and the boy shaking his head, lower lip in a pout as he crossed his arms petulantly.

"Hello," Jade intervened cautiously, smiling at them amiably. "What's wrong?"

"He—he said mermaids don't exist!" the girl hiccupped, glaring at her... her brother, Jade figured.

The statement took her aback, though, and she sat down in the sand in surprise. Both children looked at her oddly, one a bit tearful and the other still stubbornly pouting. Jade decided that she'd definitely sat down on purpose and patted the ground next to herself, picking up a seashell and toying with it.

"Sit with me. I'll tell you a story," she offered, enjoying the feel of the sea breeze as it picked up her long, black hair, making it stream out behind her. It really was an idyllic day!

"A story about mermaids?" the girl asked, sitting down and crossing her legs. "I want a story about mermaids!"

"Mermaids aren't _real_," the boy scowled, scuffing his feet against the sand as he weighed his options, then finally plopped down as well.

"How do you know that?" Jade asked him, wrapping her arms loosely about her knees and turning her face up to the warmth of the sun. The wind smelled of the sea, reminding her of some people she sorely missed, but the golden sand under her and the surf that was tickling her bare feet (feet!) were more than enough to keep her from feeling melancholy.

"All the other grown-ups say so," he shrugged. "And anyway, I've never seen one."

"All the other grown-ups don't know," she corrected. "You've never seen any of the Princes of Derse, either, but you know they exist, right?"

"But everyone talks about them," the boy protested, before realizing he'd fallen into his own logical trap. "Oh."

The girl squealed victoriously. "So mermaids _are _real! I knew it!"

Jade laughed. "Do you still want to hear the story?"

"Yes, yes, yes," the little girl beamed. "Please, miss?"

"Alright," she smiled happily out at the clear blue sky and turquoise ocean. "Once upon a time, not too long ago, there was a mermaid who lived alone near an island, with only a solitary storm spirit for company..."

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><p><em>Months in the past, but not many...<em>

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><p>Jade laughed as she cavorted through the waves, using her tail to merrily flick spray into the air above her as she swam in the warm sun. Around her were miles of open ocean, a small island the only landmark on the horizon. It had a little cove that made a cozy home for a lonely mermaid and provided shelter from big storms that blew through on their way to the coasts.<p>

"Hey!" complained that air, shimmering into the form of a blue-eyed, cloud-white boy with a shock of black hair who comfortably rode the currents of warm air rising from the sea surface. He wiped the droplets from his glasses onto his blue tunic, though he didn't really need the lenses to see—he just thought that a fashion picked up from humans would make him look cooler. ("Cooler for _who_, you dork?" Jade had laughed at him. He'd just grinned back, and continued to wear them.)

"Oops, sorry," she giggled with a distinct _sorry-not-sorry _vibe. Slowing to a stop, just bobbing in the water, she peered up at him curiously.

John was her self-appointed brother, just like she was his self-appointed sister. He was a young storm spirit, while she was a mermaid of about the same age. One day, a terrible storm—one that John had accidentally started, and had no idea how to control or stop—had thrown him halfway across the ocean, and the surface currents it generated had ripped her away from any merfolk settlements, and while flying or swimming around being lost in general they had found each other. Both had been children, confused and lost and despairing, and had latched onto each other. Neither of them really had much memory of their original families; John was all she had, and she was all he had. They'd found this island cove to be their home, and for years they'd stayed here.

Right now, he was sitting with one ankle on his knee, leaning on one arm, on thin air, which for a storm spirit was totally normal. It had freaked her out originally, just like her affinity with water had done to him. Now, she accepted it without second thought. Noticing her scrutiny, John flicked his airy fingers and blew a puff of air into her face with a mischievous grin.

"What're you looking at?" he teased.

"Oh, nothing special," she replied with a smirk, breaking into laughter at his surprised expression as it morphed into indignance.

"That was uncalled for!" the spirit said with a playful pout, blowing another, stronger puff of wind into her face. It carried enough force to lift a few locks of her wet, black hair from her back, and she sank beneath the waves for a moment to get out of the way of the jet of air. Resurfacing, she used the large fins on the end of her tail to splash him fully in retaliation, not just flicking him with spray this time.

John yelped and fell from his lofty perch, landing on the surface of the water with a splash, though he didn't sink. Jade grinned at him, folding her arms triumphantly.

This was something that happened a lot, and their playful fights usually ended in draws, just like this, because the both of them couldn't keep straight faces long enough to continue. As the midmorning lengthened into midday into afternoon, Jade occasionally dove beneath the waves to nearby atolls to find different species of coral, which she liked to study patterns in. When she came up one time near the end of this particular journey, though there were a few other stops she wanted to make, John had a serious, pensive look on his face as he looked up at the clear, cloudless sky.

"We should head back to our island," he warned. "There's a big storm coming. Like, _huge_, I haven't felt one this big in a while."

The day was pristine and pure and not very stormy at all! But Jade trusted his judgment—he was the storm spirit, after all. If he said there was a storm coming, she believed him. The fact that he said it was very large worried her, though. John usually figured he could handle things, and she was the one to tell him to be careful. If this storm was big enough that it concerned him, well... it was probably time to turn tail and swim home, for sure.

"Okay, let's go," she agreed. "Just one thing, I want a little sample from what's right below us, I'll just be a second!"

Diving down again, she looked around at the different colorful corals that lined the shallow rocks. There, that green twisty, convoluted one! She didn't have any of it in her collection. Breaking it would be bad for the coral, but the idea was to find a piece that was about to break off and grow elsewhere. She would just transplant it, and until she moved it to her cove she could just use mermaid powers—at least, she thought they were mermaid powers? She didn't really know any other mermaids—to hold it steady in stasis.

But as she was swimming back up to John, a pattern in the waves caught her attention. It was very subtle, and one that she hadn't heard or seen in a long time. Jade stopped just below the surface to listen more carefully, looking around with a scanning gaze. But she didn't see anything out of the ordinary...

Popping her head out of the water, she looked up at John. "There's a ship somewhere nearby."

"A ship?" he repeated. "In this kind of storm? Oh man, Jade, that's gonna be bad."

"Maybe we can help..." she started to suggest, trailing off when he shook his head vehemently.

"This is a really, really big storm. I don't want to lose you. It's... it's as big as the first one, but I swear I didn't do this one." He really did look agitated, she thought, and soothingly reached out a hand to stroke his. It was strange, holding the wind, but she had gotten used to the feeling over the years. The wind was just her brother.

"Okay," she agreed, not without a pang though. Those poor people on the ship... "Let's go home."

* * *

><p>It truly was a storm of massive proportions. The evening sky, normally a soft orange dusted with creamy pinks and light lavenders, was all but black and menacing, the ocean a menacing green-grey with waves so tall that Jade felt a bit of fear at the idea of swimming in that. She sat in the shallows on the shore on their island, in a small cave under the dormant volcano that had created it. John hovered next to her, seeming nervous and fidgety just like her. Neither of them really was a fan of inclement weather.<p>

"Those people on that ship are probably goners," he muttered, shaking his head. There was a bit of a grey tinge to his usual cloudlike, bright white complexion, born of anxiety as he clutched her webbed hand. Jade winced at the reminder of the ship; lightning flashed and illuminated the gaping maw between two mountainous waves beyond the safety of their island harbor. She shrank back into the rocky sand, pulling her tail up with her so she could sit with it curled around herself almost defensively.

"Maybe we should have tried to warn them," she sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. He was cool to the touch, more so than she was, and leaned against her warmth.

"I don't know how much good it would have done," he replied sadly. "It's not like they could get out of there fast enough. Unless you wanted to bring them here..."

"I don't know," she shrugged slightly. "But it doesn't matter now. They're ... they're probably at the bottom of the ocean—wait," she sat up suddenly. A dark _something _had been illuminated on the heaving seas by a flash of lightning... was it the ship? "John! Did you see that?"

"See wh—oh! Holy mackerel, it's the ship you saw!" he gasped. "Oh no, they're—"

He didn't finish, watching with wide horrorstruck eyes as the ship slowly, painfully began to twist and fall to its side as it went down the steep side of one of the huge waves, the two crests on either side like the gates of night as they closed over the top of the wooden vessel.

"Oh no," Jade murmured, awestruck and horrified at the same time. Both of them stared at the spot where the ship had gone down for a long few heartbeats, thinking about the people who were going to go to watery graves right outside their happy little cove, and then because she just couldn't bear the thought of so many people dying right in front of her, Jade made what was probably the stupidest, most reckless decision of her life.

She dove back into the water and began swimming as fast as she could, below the surface to avoid the choppy seas, to the site of the last she'd seen of the ship, ignoring John's panic-laced cry behind her. It was dark, even darker than swimming at night when at least the moon illuminated the surface of the water, and the currents were agitated and didn't want to cooperate with her, but with effort she pushed her way out of the shelter of the harbor into the open ocean.

It was a different world. She'd never been afraid of drowning, but since the childhood accident that had brought her here, she'd been terrified of losing control of herself in the water, and she felt perilously close to that here, buffeted by strong winds if she went up and dragged this way and that by the water if she went down.

"_Jade!_" the wind carried John's screams to her whenever her head broke the surface. "_Jade! Where are you? Jade!_"

"I'm—" water filled her mouth before she could finish, and she sputtered for a moment before leaping up enough to cry "I'm here! John!" before going under again. The ship, the ship! It had to be around here somewhere, though it was probably torn to pieces by now by the waves.

"_Jade!_" the wind called frantically again, sounding closer—but with the air, one could never be too sure.

"_John!_" she shrieked back, looking around wildly. There, there was a spar of wood, she was getting closer!

The winds driving the surface currents were pushing her farther and farther away from the safe haven of the island, just like they were pushing the fragments of the ship. Oh no, oh no, oh—

There was a human in front of her, clinging desperately to another wooden spar. He looked haggard, exhausted, panicked, desperate, all of these and more, as he clutched the board and clung to the thread of life. Jade gasped, swallowing more water accidentally and coughing, then began to splash toward him.

"Hey!" she cried over the howling wind. "Grab my hand!"

He turned his head at the sound of her voice, his eyes growing wide. "Who—who the hell are you? Why are you in the water? Were you on the ship? Fuck, fuck, fuck, oh god—"

"Shush!" she yelled at him. He was understandably distressed, but this was not the time to play the interrogation game! She swam closer and grabbed at his arm; he resisted, still gripping the wooden beam as tightly as he could. "Come with me! I'll get you out of this alive, I promise!" He wasn't looking at her, though, but casting his eyes behind her with an expression of dread.

Another huge, mountainous wave was about to crash down on them. Jade looked up with terror at the green monster, thinking fast. She would be okay, but he would drown, he couldn't breathe underwater like she could, this whole thing would be for nothing and she'd be lost for no reason and _John, _oh, how sorry she was for making this happen, she thought hysterically as the wave began to fall, the two of them in the bottom of the valley between it and the previous wave. She looked at the man; he looked even more terrified than she was, facing his impending death. Impulsively, she hugged him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she chanted in the slow seconds as the water started to pour down on top of them—

A gust of air suddenly surrounded them both, a bubble of calm within the tempest. Jade let out a breathy sigh that turned into giddy laughter from pure relief as the bubble drifted to the surface again, and kept her grip on her new companion's arm. "_John_!"

"I'm here!" he yelled. Looking up, she saw him floating above her, seeming to struggle with all the gales that battered him from all sides and directions. "Can you make it home?"

"What about you?" she cried. "I'm not leaving you!"

"I'll be right behind you!" he promised, raising his arms as if to conduct a vast symphony of gales. The bright white of his body and the clear, sky blue of his tunic were a stark contrast against the black clouds, but as he frowned in concentration, Jade felt the surface currents begin to act somewhat closer to normal again as the winds calmed just a little.

"Can you—" she shifted her grip on the human's arm; he seemed drained. How long had he been trying to swim? "Can you give me an air bubble for him?"

It was asking a lot for him to do that on top of calming the storm, especially from a relatively untrained storm spirit, but John nodded grimly, his fingers flexing in her direction. "Go!"

He wouldn't move until she did, so without another word she dove into the depths, dragging the young man down with her. He struggled, panicking, but stopped when he realized he could breathe. Jade wanted to stop and explain to him what was going on, but there was no time, so she just swam as fast as she could in the rough ocean, directing it as best as she could with her water magic and keeping a trajectory straight for the cove.

There was a marked difference in the difficulty of swimming when she finally, _finally _made it over the rocks that formed the border between the shallow waters of the island harbor and the open sea. It was much easier now, and she swam back to the surface to allow the human to breathe normally again. He seemed to be in shock, having lost his piece of wood while she was rocketing through the deeps, and took a moment to start treading water.

She drew him to the cave and up onto the beach in there, but before saying a word to him she darted back outside to see if she could find John. The skies were a little more healthy looking, more of a deep grey now than black, and the waves were no longer huge mountains and bottomless abysses but rather rolling swells and deep valleys. It was still a big storm, by all counts, but one that was less deadly than before.

"_John?_" she shouted into the sky. "John! Where are you!?"

A blue and white figure was descending slowly from the clouds above her. He looked worn, shoulders slumping and head bowed, but as he reached the surface of the water, he brightened upon seeing her and flowed down to hug her tightly.

"Please never, ever do that again," he whispered against her ear.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, her arms awkwardly reaching into the air to hold him. "But I saved him. We saved him. Someone from that ship survived."

"I was terrified," he said.

"Me too," she admitted. "But I'm proud of you, and I'm so, so happy I didn't lose you."

"I couldn't bear the thought of losing you," he shook slightly.

"Hush, John, it's okay. It's all fine now. We're okay, we're together."

He was silent, just hovering barely above the water surface to wrap his arms around her. She flicked her tail under the water so that she didn't sink, reaching up to squeeze him. "Let's go inside?"

"Yeah."

They left the stormy sky and sea to swim and fly, hand in hand, back into the cave. There, Jade smiled softly at the young man they'd rescued; he was asleep, curled into a tight ball and shivering slightly from the combination of wind and soaked clothes. He must have been truly exhausted to fall asleep that fast, she thought.

She and John stayed awake a little longer, just trying to calm down from the harrowing experience. Finally, they both fell asleep next to each other, Jade lying halfway on the beach with her tail in the shallow water and John with his arms wrapped around her.

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><p>In the morning, Jade was the last one to wake up; John was gone and a little note in the wet sand told her that he'd be back with food in a little while. When she sat up, stretching and straightening her woven shirt, she saw the human sitting up and examining her tail; he jumped back, startled, when she flicked the end of it to lightly splash in the shallows.<p>

"Good morning," she greeted warmly.

"You're a mermaid," he observed intelligently.

"Yes, I am," she agreed. "You're a human."

"Well no shit—I mean, yeah, I'm human. What about your ... friend? Blue guy? He's not human, but he didn't look like a mer-guy to me."

"He's a storm spirit," Jade said merrily, watching the expression of disbelief cross the human's face.

"No fucking way."

"Yes fucking way!" she laughed. "His name's John and he's my brother. Not biologically," she added at his confused look. "And my name is Jade! What's yours?"

"Dave. Dave Strider. Nice to meet you, Jade, and, uh, thanks for saving my life. I'm kind of fond of being alive, so that means a lot. But I don't suppose there's anything to eat on Middle-of-Fucking-Nowhere Island?"

Jade laughed. "You're welcome. I'm happy to have been able to help you..." her voice wavered slightly. All the other people who'd been on the ship weren't as lucky. "Oh! Food. Yes, John went to go get something or other. Probably fruit! Fruit's okay, right, Dave?"

"So long as it's edible, I don't give a _shit_," he shrugged. "I'm hungry."

For a lone survivor of a shipwreck, he sure seemed to move on fast. That was probably good, right? "Okay, good," she giggled. "Ooh, I bet a bunch of mangoes got knocked down by the storm last night! John will have gone a bit further out, but if you want to come with me I can show you the mango grove!"

"Mango grove," he repeated. "Sounds delicious. Where I'm from, it's usually too cold for fresh mangoes. They always have to be imported, which makes them either unripe or overripe. Which is a real fucking shame because mangoes are the shit."

"Mangoes are not! They are so good!" Jade frowned at him.

"That's what I said—oh, right, mermaid. It's a figure of speech we use where I'm from. Means that they are hella awesome." He nodded once.

"Oh. You humans sure have some weird idioms."

That made him snort with amusement. Jade wondered what it sounded like when he actually laughed. "Yeah, we do. No denyin' that."

She scooted back into the water, beckoning into the enticingly sunny, calm cove. The storm must have cleared up in the early hours of the morning; a few clouds lingered, but they were calm and fluffy, not menacing and dark. The sun beamed down dazzlingly on the waves that gently lapped at her tail, and it was another beautiful day, albeit much warmer than yesterday. "Well, this way to the mango grove!"

As they went, Dave walking along the shoreline and Jade swimming a few feet out in the shallow, barely-swimmable regions, she asked, "So where are you from anyway? Too cold for mangoes?"

"It's the kingdom of Derse. I don't know if you've heard of it on Middle of Fucking Nowhere Island, though."

"Of course I've heard of Derse!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "You guys are sort of rivals with Prospit, right? Some sort of negotiating thing going on right now?"

Dave gave her an impressed look as he hopped over a rock on the beach. "Wow, you're surprisingly in the loop for living in the middle of fucking nowhere."

Jade laughed, picking up a seashell that caught her eye. "Sometimes John and I go exploring, and we find harbors or people to talk to. But that's really all I know about Derse, honestly."

"Well, there's not too much to say about the place, really," he shrugged, strolling along. "It's not too big, everyone likes purple, winters are long, and we build the fucking _best _ice sculptures."

"Really?" Jade asked. "I've never seen ice, let alone ice sculptures. They must be so cold!"

"I told you. Derse is fucking _freezing_." Dave snorted, looking over at her. "You know, I'm still kind of trying to wrap my head around the fact that last night I got pulled out of the ocean by a mermaid and a storm spirit. I didn't even know you _existed_."

She stopped for a moment, pondering how best to respond to that. "I would be lying if I said I didn't know humans existed. But yes, Dave, merfolk and storm spirits exist, and we are people too, before you ask."

"I wasn't about to say something about humans being better," he scoffed, looking at her crossly. Oops, maybe her presumption had been a bit offensive. "Not all humans are closeminded jerks. You're not lesser, just... different."

Jade beamed at him. "Why thank you! I think that's one of the nicest things a human has ever said to me."

Dave just looked over at her, one eyebrow raised. "How many humans have said things to you," he deadpanned.

"Not too many! Maybe five, ever?" she admitted with a laugh and careless shrug. "But you seem nice anyway."

"Thanks," he snorted.

"You're welcome!" she said brightly, flicking her tail under the water to make a little splash just for fun.

The rest of the day was spent rather peacefully and uneventfully. John returned from a nearby island with a certain type of sweet, delicious berry that only grew in large numbers there, and the three of them headed inland along a freshwater stream until they reached its source, a small pond that bubbled up from a spring deep underground. It was there they spent the most time, talking and getting to know each other.

To Jade's delight, Dave got along with John just as well as he did with her. The three of them could all be friends now! It would be weird having a human around, but it was better than him being dead, right? Now they could all just enjoy life out in the ocean without worrying about freezing winters or political problems between far-off lands.

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><p>Jade's dreamy illusion vanished one night. John was sound asleep already, tired from cavorting through the air and experimenting with his wind abilities—great fun, to be sure, but still draining—but Dave was still awake when she came back from a late-night swim with a few pearls that had caught her eye.<p>

He was sitting hunched in on himself and staring out to sea, around the same spot in which the ship had gone down a few months ago. Now, the ocean was almost as calm as glass, painted silver by the moonlight and the twinkling of the stars; it looked so peaceful that it might be hard to believe it could ever have been as perilous and wrathful as it had been that night. Jade slipped into the mouth of the shallow cave, propping her arms up on a rock next to him, one hand still holding her pearls.

"Hi, Dave," she greeted softly.

"Hey," he replied quietly, a strange note—was it grief?—in his voice.

"A pearl for your thoughts?" she tried the idiom. It roughly made sense, a trade of a material object for something intangible, but she never knew with human expressions. They were a difficult thing to master. Either way, she held out her hand, offering him a smooth, round pearl that shone softly in the moonlight. "I... I am using that correctly, right?"

His lips quirked into a half-smile that spoke volumes of sadness. "Yeah. You are."

"So?" she prodded, pressing the stone into his hand. "What's wrong?"

"Everyone on that ship is dead," he said bluntly. "Everyone but me. Why me?"

Oh no, she'd been afraid he might start grieving over that. It was perfectly understandable, but somehow she had wanted to always keep their little paradise unmarred by sadness. "Because you were the only one John and I saw. I'm sorry, I really am, Dave."

"It's not like it's your fault," he shook his head. "It was that storm—wait..." He turned to cast a suddenly suspicious look at John. "Or was it?"

Jade shook her head vehemently. "No. It wasn't. John would never cause a storm like that, I can promise you that much."

"Are you sure about that?" Dave asked, a trace of bitterness in his voice as he went back to staring at the ocean vacantly.

"Yes, I am." She sighed, swishing her tail around in mild agitation for a moment before she scooted up next to him on the sand so that she could slide a wet arm around his waist. "I never did tell you how a mermaid and a storm spirit came to be family, did I?"

"No." He sounded upset, not about her not mentioning their family history but... oh, of course. That ship had been full of his friends. How stupid was she not to have watched him more closely? How long had he been grieving in secret at night? It must have been months at the least, he'd been here over half a year. Her heart ached for him.

"It was several years ago. John and I are both seventeen years old, so we've been together for... wow, twelve years. He was with a tribe of storm spirits back then, and I was with a village of merfolk, I think. I don't really remember much about my early life. But anyway, one day I just swam out too far or something. I got separated from everyone. That same day, a storm was developing. John's tribe was going to channel it, but he accidentally got in the way, made it worse, a really, really bad storm. Worse than the one that we found you in. He didn't know how to control it, and he got flung far out away from the coast that he'd lived on. The storm system moved and within a few hours, it arrived a little way down the coast, where my village was. I was off near the open ocean, and I also got lost, pulled out to sea. I found myself near this island, and so did he. And we've been together ever since. And that's how I know he would _never _make a storm like that. One time was enough."

Dave was silent for a moment, the only sound that of the waves gently splashing against the shore. "Okay. I believe you."

"Thank you."

"But I ... don't take this the wrong way, Jade. I want to go home."

Jade stiffened, pulling away from him in a fluid motion. "Home?" she asked, not quite understanding. "You mean Derse? But Dave..." Was he unhappy here? Was it something she and John had done? Or was it that he just didn't want the company of a pair of outcasts, a mermaid and a storm spirit? Maybe he just wanted to be around humans again. That was probably it.

"You're taking it the wrong way," he sighed, reaching over and tentatively resting his hand on top of hers. "It's not that I don't like you guys, or that I don't like being here. I do. But I have family in Derse. I have a sister, and a brother, and a cousin, all of who probably think I'm dead right now. There are other people in Derse I need to be there for. I just... I should go back."

"You said 'should' that time," she pointed out quietly, hooking her thumb around his finger. "Dave... you never told me what you do in Derse."

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that shit," he sighed, hesitating before he continued. "I'm third in line for the Dersite throne, behind my brother and my sister."

"You mean you're a prince?" Jade asked, surprised from her inner turmoil by this information. "That's so cool! Do you get a pointy crown and everything?"

To her surprise, he laughed—truly laughed, not those little snorts and guffaws that he'd been tossing out for the past months. It was one of those rare moments that she filed away to treasure in her memory, because his actual laugh was a melodic, ringing sound that brought a smile to her face. "I was legitimately worried you would actually think of me differently because I'm a prince," he grinned for a moment. "But I guess that's another human-specific thing. It's cool though. I like you being a mermaid who doesn't freak out because of who I'm related to. And yes, I do have a pointy crown."

She shrugged in the moonlight. "Royalty or not, a family is still a family. I know that if I was separated from John, no matter how many new friends I made I'd still want him back. We'll try to get you home, Dave."

He was quiet for a few heartbeats. "Thanks."

"I'd do anything for you," she smiled. "You're part of this family too, now. All I ask is that you don't forget us when you do go back."

"I could never," he said immediately, meeting her gaze intensely with his ruby-red eyes. "I could never forget either of you. Hell, I don't think anyone could forget the people who saved his life. Or for that matter, meeting a mermaid and a storm spirit. I've done both in one. I'm not ever forgetting you, Jade, I promise."

She smiled, a bit watery, but genuine. "Thank you. You know, that might be one of the nicest things a human has ever said to me."

He grinned at that, chuckling just a little. "And how many humans have said nice things to you?"

"Humans named Dave Strider who are Dersite princes have said lots of nice things to me," she giggled, shifting over so that she could lean against his side and wrap her arm around him again. "I'm going to miss you, you know..."

"I'll miss you too," he sighed, sliding his arm around her shoulders. "But I know I need to go back, not just for my family but also because I have a duty to Derse. I've been happily not giving a fuck for ... shit, how long has it even been? I don't know. Lately, though, I've been thinking about it, and I should go back. But that doesn't change the fact that I'll miss you guys like hell."

"I wish you didn't have to leave. I wish there was a way to at least bring Derse closer to the island. I'm going to hate not having you around! I really meant it when I said you're part of this family too, now," Jade said wistfully. It had been really nice, having more people than just herself and John. She loved her brother dearly, but she had come to love Dave, too.

He took a moment to respond, chuckling dryly before he said, "You know, that might be one of the nicest things a mermaid has ever said to me."

* * *

><p>In the morning, bright and early, Jade told John about that conversation. He seemed surprised and more than a little sad, turning to look at Dave mournfully.<p>

"You want to leave?"

"Sorry, bro, but yeah, I do. I've gotta get back home. I've got another family waiting there."

Jade smiled a little at 'another' family. It made her happy that he was calling them family, too, despite how bittersweet it was that they only said it when he was going to leave them.

The past few months had been blissful, to say the least. It was a nice change from the kind of repetitive day-to-day schedule she and John had been living for years, because now they had a new person. In the first week or two, they'd all felt a little awkward, but Dave had rapidly grown into the family with ease, like the three of them belonged together. They had had such a great time together, all three of them, and also sometimes her and Dave! John had discovered a new hobby of flying high, so high that she lost him in the clouds, and on those occasions she and Dave would go swimming or exploring the island. Sometimes she complained that legs would make looking around in the forests or up the volcano so much easier; other times, he complained that a tail would make swimming much more doable and then she could truly show him what her world was like. But they managed well enough!

When she pulled herself from her little reverie, thinking about the dreamy, fantastic events of the recent past, John and Dave were still talking.

"It'll take a little while to figure out how we get you back to Derse," John was saying. "Ships come near here irregularly, so I don't think we can count on that... I might fly there and tell them to come get you, though."

"But John," Jade frowned slightly. "Do you think you can manage that? It's a long flight on your own, and if I come with you we leave Dave here alone. And would they listen to someone they didn't know existed?"

"Well, I mean, they could try and tell me I don't exist," John grinned, "but I think I could disprove that pretty fast, you know?"

Jade laughed. "That's true. But the flight! Can you do it alone?"

"I should be able to. I've been experimenting with flight abilities, actually," he said brightly. "Plus, you know I can just diffuse when I need to rest. No big deal."

"Okay, just don't push yourself too hard! Be careful out there," she warned, reaching up to pat his shoulder. "When are you going to leave?"

"I could go right now," he shrugged. "Whenever. It's your choice, Dave!"

"No, don't do that!" Jade jumped in to protest. "At least let's spend today together, please?" Maybe it was selfish of her, but she wanted to postpone John leaving, because it would be a slap in the face of her happy fantasy. John leaving for a few weeks to fly over to Derse would be a blatant reminder that he was going to go find people to take Dave away forever. And she didn't want Dave to leave!

"I've been away for months," Dave shrugged. "One day more won't make a difference. Sure, what the hell, let's party it up in this joint."

Jade beamed, clapping her hands happily. "Yes! Let's do that! We can have a party. We've never actually had a party before!" she said enthusiastically, flicking water over herself with her tail fins. "This is exciting! What do you do at parties?"

"There's music and food and dancing, right?" John put in, floating a few inches higher with a big goofy smile on his face. He was just as excited as she was, wasn't he?

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there," Dave grinned. "First of all, that was another figure of speech—no, don't give me that look," he added upon seeing both of their crestfallen faces, "let me finish my goddamn sentence. Second of all, I see absolutely no fucking reason to _not _have a party. Parties are the shit. And you guys having never actually had a party is one of the saddest things I've ever heard."

"Yaaayyy!" Jade cheered, excitedly slapping the surface of the water with her tail. "This is going to be the best party ever!"

* * *

><p>John left the next morning, bright and early as the sun rose over the ocean. Dave was still asleep, but Jade had made sure to get her brother to promise to wake her up so she could see him off; she floated in the center of the lagoon and waved to the sky until long after she couldn't see the faint blue speck that was John anymore, just the endless cerulean eternity that had swallowed him as it faded into the horizon.<p>

Yeah, it was probably fair to say that she felt more than a little melancholy. John could travel faster than she could swim—it was just part of what came naturally to him as a storm spirit, he could literally fly like the wind—and now that speed was of the essence, she couldn't accompany him. It was the first time they'd ever truly been separated like this, for so long. Even flying like the wind, the trip would probably take him five or six days, plus however long it took for Derse to ready a ship to follow him back to the island, plus another week or two for them to sail. All in all, he'd be gone almost a month! Jade couldn't remember the last time he'd been away for a month. Had he ever? She didn't think so; there had been times when they just left to wander for a few months, visiting coastlines and other countries, but those were leisure trips that they took together just for the thrill of exploring and seeing new places. Both of them went on those, happily, and even though they weren't on the island that they called home it wasn't so bad, because they were with each other.

At least she still had Dave here, for a little while. He would be with her, until John came back, and then he would leave her. It was unfair of her to blame him for it, because she completely understood that he missed his family—she was sitting here missing John, who would be gone for a matter of weeks, while Dave hadn't seen his siblings or parents in over half a year!—but all the same, she wished there had been more warning, that she had known from the start not to let him completely into her heart like this. Formerly, John had been the only one who occupied that space, but now they both shared it. Even though she'd known John far longer, she still loved them both with all of her soul.

Though... if she was perfectly honest with herself, Jade would have to say that she was starting to suspect that though she loved them both equally, she didn't love them both the same way. No, that was still off. She was long past the stage of "starting to suspect"; denying that was a lost cause. No, indeed. Jade was pretty sure that she was in love with Prince Dave Strider of the Kingdom of Derse, this silly, enigmatic boy with the beautiful voice and impeccable sense of ironic humor who had been swept into her life from a terrible storm one night and had never stopped turning her life upside down ever since. In love... what a strange feeling. In all the few books she'd ever read, bartered for on her and John's expeditions because reading and writing were _amazing _ways of passing down information and she refused to be uneducated on them, it had been described as a beautiful sensation accompanied by happy butterflies and a feeling of flying and soaring and—well. She somewhat felt that, but she felt nervous, too, and sad, and uncertain, and her books never mentioned anything about those feelings. Most of her books weren't even stories about romance or love, just interesting tidbits about the natural world or about legends and lore. How was a confused young mermaid supposed to know what to do in this situation?

And before she could tell John and ask for his advice, he was gone, and he wouldn't be back until they came to take Dave away forever. Forever was an impossibly long time. Forever was even more gigantic than the fluffy white clouds that hung in the azure sky far above her head. Forever was bigger than the blue infinity of the ocean. Forever was more vast than the endless sky itself, because even the sky faded to give way to the stars. Forever was longer than the stars shone.

Jade hated the concept of forever.

She was still drifting in the center of the relatively shallow lagoon, only her head above water and with tears leaking down her cheeks slowly to land in the ocean, when Dave woke up. She wasn't really aware of his consciousness until the rhythmic splashing behind her drew closer and his voice, right behind her shoulder, asked, "Sup?"

Startled, she floundered for a moment and pretended to go under the surface for a second, just so that she could pretend it was just seawater on her face and not teardrops. "Dave! You scared me!" Did her laughter sound forced? It sounded genuine, right?

He grinned, kicking his legs underwater to stay afloat as he tossed his head to shake his hair from falling into his eyes. It was longer than it had been when he first arrived, and more shaggy, but they didn't really have need for hair-trimming tools on the island, because while John preferred to keep his short he could just diffuse into thin air and reform however he pleased—within certain limits, but those were a storm spirit thing that she'd never really understood—and Jade let her hair grow long and luscious, even though it was pretty much always dripping wet. Still, she thought Dave pulled off the messy haired look quite well. He was really rather handsome.

"No shit, I had no idea," he snorted now, eyes dancing in amusement as he took in her appearance. "How long have you been out here?"

"Since dawn," she sighed, looking up at the sky again.

Dave apparently didn't need to ask what the matter was; it was obvious enough from her demeanor, or he was good at reading her. "You miss him, huh," he said more gently, moving closer so that he could reach out and brush her shoulder.

"I do," she agreed, shifting closer to him. "It's the first time we'll have been apart for so long, actually..."

"Sorry, Jade," he said sincerely. His fingers wrapped around hers in a gentle, comforting manner. Oh no, was there anything that _wouldn't _make her sad today? She was feeling more tears prick at her eyes, despite her most valiant efforts to hide them. Several seconds passed, Jade blinking rapidly to try not to cry as she squeezed Dave's hand.

Turning abruptly to face him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. "I—I'm going to miss you so much," she managed, her voice breaking with unshed tears. But she stayed there, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat and holding onto him.

His arms wrapped firmly around her as well, strong and lean with hard muscles under his pale skin. He was a swordsman, he'd told her, trained from youth by his brother, and that was why he had that graceful yet sharp mannerism to his movements. "Oh, damn... I'm going to miss you too, Jade, a hell of a lot." He sounded sad, almost hurt, and the selfish part of her that she was immediately ashamed of clamored that she should latch onto that and make him feel guilty for leaving—but no, how could she even think of doing that to him just out of her own loneliness? It wasn't right, especially not to someone she loved.

So she just stayed silent and held onto him as tightly as she could, memorizing the feeling of his bony shoulder against her cheek and his wiry but muscular arms holding her fast and his heart beating in his chest, hoping that she could just hold onto those memories forever and they would be as good as holding him even though she knew they wouldn't.

"Uh... Jade?" Dave broke into her despondent thoughts. "Not to be callous or anything fucking dumb like that, but can we go back to land now? I can't swim as well as you."

It surprised her into a little laugh. "Yes, Dave, we can go back to shore."

* * *

><p>It was only the third day of the two of them lazing around and drinking in each others' company when it happened. Part of Jade was very happy, but the overwhelming majority of her mind wanted to cry when it did, out of frustration and sorrow.<p>

The 'it' in question was ... well, not exactly a long story, but at least one that she hadn't seen coming at all.

It had started after they'd come back from a trip up to the spring on the slopes of the volcano. Jade was happily sitting atop one of the small rocky waterfalls that Dave had helped her up earlier, swinging her tail back and forth through the falling stream as she combed through her hair with her fingers, while Dave sat on a rock closer to the edge of the water and watched her with a funny little smile that spoke of fondness and... something else that she hadn't noticed until she looked back on it.

"Hey, Jade," he said simply, scooping up a palmful of water to toss at her.

She laughed and splashed back at him, leaning over and holding the edge of one of the slippery rocks for balance as she trailed her fingers in the shallow stream to flick the clear drops in his direction. "Hi, Dave!"

"Having fun over there?" he asked, the odd little smile turning into one of his usual half-smiles, though she'd been working on making the half-smiles into full smiles.

"Definitely! You can help detangle my hair, too. It's great fun," she teased, leaning over a bit further precariously so that she could poke his nose—oh shit her fingers were slipping—

Dave caught her quickly, clasping her against his chest before she could fall into the rocks or over the edge of the waterfall. It wasn't a long drop, but the pool below was shallow enough that a fall into it without angling her tail properly so that it didn't hit the bottom would probably hurt. She stayed absolutely still for a moment, her eyes wide as the adrenaline rushing through her calmed and her grip on his shoulders loosened.

"Careful," he cautioned, not letting go. Well, that was alright, she was just as happy to sit here in his arms.

"Thanks," she breathed, looking up at him gratefully. He seemed to be a bit on edge about something, was everything alright...?

"So, uh... there's something I want to tell you," he said as if in answer to her unasked question.

"Is something wrong, Dave?" she asked worriedly. "Are you okay—"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing like that," he said quickly, shaking his head. "No, I just wanted to tell you that I, uh... I love you."

Jade blinked, wondering why he'd found that so hard to say. "I love you too! I've told you that like every day, you dork," she hugged him, albeit a little awkwardly considering that she was leaning across the open stream.

For some reason, he seemed even more upset about whatever was bothering him. "No, that's—oh goddammit, fucking _mermaid_—I mean it like.. fuck this shit."

"Dave?" she asked uncertainly. "What's the—"

She didn't get a chance to finish her question, though, because Dave had closed the small gap between them with a kiss. It was hesitant and soft but still, it was her very first kiss and Dave Strider was kissing her, the prince that she had fallen in love with was kissing her—!

How could he do this to her, now, right when he had decided to leave?

Jade wrenched herself away from him, forcibly ignoring the pang that his shocked, guilty expression sent through her, and without a word pushed herself down the waterfall, angling her body so that she could land in the shallow water without harm. Once there she took off downstream, heading back to the lagoon and from there into the open ocean so that she could cry into the saltwater without fear of him seeing her.

The tears were already coming before she cleared the mouth of the stream, let alone the edge of the shallow lagoon that dropped into the deep waters of the ocean. Why, oh, why, how could he do this to her? Part of her wanted to sing from joy that he loved her in the romantic, in-love way, just like she did him, but most of her felt a stinging, painful sense of betrayal. "I love you," he had said, but only after it was confirmed that he was leaving and he was never going to see her again. He was _leaving _her! Forever! What was the point in telling her that he loved her now? It would just make her hurt more when he left!

Another sob tore itself from her throat. Jade kept swimming, further and further out, wanting nothing more than to get away from Dave Strider until her head stopped spinning and her heart stopped aching and she could finally get her thoughts in order. It was maybe unfair to him to pin all her hurt on him, but oh how easy it was to do, and he _was _the source of most of it even if he didn't mean to be.

In the distance, she could see a small coral island, much smaller in size than her and John's and Dave's—no, just hers and John's, Dave was leaving—but still large enough to be a landmark. She dove under the water surface, swimming down to the coral reef that lined around the shallows, thriving in the sunlight, and curled up on herself next to it, hoping that the bright colors and familiarity of this reef, one of the first she'd ever started studying, could cheer her up if nothing else could. Hours ticked by faster than she thought they could, and soon it was dark. Crying was tiring, she thought hazily, still feeling a bit numb from heartache as she looked up at the moon through the waves. And with that thought, the tears began to flow again, even though they were invisible underwater. It still hurt, it really did! Why couldn't they just be happy?

She cried herself to sleep late that night, and didn't wake up until almost afternoon of the next day. When the sunlight filtering down through the water finally roused her, Jade realized how hungry she was—she'd skipped dinner and breakfast—and debated what to do to fix this. Did she feel ready to face Dave? No, not yet. She'd cried a lot yesterday, but she hadn't organized her thoughts, hadn't figured out what to say to him. She would need a little more time. But since that was the case, going back to her main volcanic island was out of the question. Perhaps some of the others would be better.

There was the one with the sweet red berries that John often brought, like he had on Dave's first day—on second thought, if they were going to remind her of Dave, she didn't want them. Scratch that. Perhaps she'd just find some of the other island berries and fruits, maybe with some seaweed. It would be nourishing enough, though what she really wanted was a coconut. Unless she came upon any fallen ones, however, it would be impossible to get; mermaids did not climb trees.

Swimming from her coral reef out to another nearby atoll, a small one with a relatively deep lagoon—it was probably an older island than her own—Jade managed to get herself some fruit, picking up seaweed along the way and nibbling on it. Once her hunger was sated, she dove down to the bottom of the lagoon and lay in the sand there, watching the fish swim overhead.

She had to think for a while, now, and contemplate how to deal with Dave so that they could both be as happy as possible. Or at least so that he could be happy, because she was pretty sure there was no way she would come out of this happily. It was pretty much impossible at this point (and would have been whether she was in love with him or not. That was just making things worse).

Did she love him? Of course. That went without saying, there was no question about it.

Did she want to tell him that she loved him? Romantically, in the way he said he loved her? That was harder. On the one hand, she did, because he deserved to know and it would probably make them both happy until John got back. On the other hand, well... if she didn't tell him, he'd hurt for now, but he would probably move on from her to someone he could actually be with sooner, with less pain. It might be better in the long run.

But telling him could at least give them both closure. Maybe she could tell him, but also say that they shouldn't be together because they _couldn't_. That sounded good. He would be reasonable, right?

... Right?

Yeah, probably not. But she could hope! And it was a good plan, if all went well. They could just sit there and talk it out, rationally, and... things would just work out, somehow.

Oh, this was ridiculous! Why was it so _complicated_? Why couldn't everything just be as simple as "Dave is in love with me, I am in love with Dave, we can be happy"? This was so hard, it was dumb! Maybe she could just go talk to him. And see how it went from there.

She had a basic plan of how to approach him, at least. Now all she had to do was work up the courage to actually follow through with it. That... might be difficult, but she would have to do it, for both of their sakes.

She only hoped she would be able to pull it off without hurting either herself or Dave too badly.

* * *

><p><em>AN: ... does this count as a cliffhanger? Oh my god if this is a cliffhanger I am literally the worst, hahaha. Well, it will be remedied soon! <em>

_Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you're enjoying it! :D_


	2. Chapter 2: Derse

As it turned out, it took her another day to actually accomplish the feat of going to talk to Dave. Around midmorning the next day, Jade hesitantly floated back into her atoll's achingly familiar, homey lagoon and slowly swam back into the cave where they slept. Dave was there, awake, sitting with his back to the sea and his head in his hands. Oh no, he looked like he was crying, this was going to be even more difficult than she'd thought... she just wanted to comfort him, she really did. Why was this so hard? She lingered in the mouth of the cave for a moment, uncertain and almost debating whether she should just turn tail and flee back into the ocean again because _she wasn't ready for this_, but then shook her head and steeled her nerves. She owed it to Dave to at least talk to him today.

"...Dave?" she murmured, her voice echoing slightly and mingling with the gentle sound of the waves lapping at the sides of the cave. He started violently at the sound and whirled around disbelievingly.

"Jade?" In just a few instants he had all but flown across the few yards between them to kneel at the water's edge and crush her in an embrace before he stiffened and awkwardly backed away, not meeting her gaze. "I—I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for that, earlier. Fuck, I shouldn't have—"

"Hush," she shook her head and studied him. He _must_ have been crying, his eyes were red and his cheeks suspiciously wet. There were dark shadows under his eyes, too... had he not been sleeping well on top of blaming himself for chasing her off? Oh, no, he was probably worried about her safety, too, considering that she vanished without a trace and didn't tell him! Poor Dave... She lifted herself out of the water and onto the beach to hug him gently before she pulled back, biting her lip for a second in anxiety before speaking. "I... I won't say that I don't want you to say sorry, but not for the reasons you probably think."

He looked up from his feet to meet her eyes for just a second of cautious optimism before he dropped his gaze again. "What do you mean?"

"First of all," she took a deep breath to steady herself, "I'm just going to go ahead and say it. I love you, too, in the I'm-in-love-with-you romantic way." Dave had whipped his head up to look at her, and his red eyes were shining like rubies now, bright and glad, unadulterated happiness radiating out at her without those usual shields he put up. And she felt awful about it, now, because s was probably about to shatter whatever joy he had gained, though, with her next words, and it hurt to know that his face was about to crumple and turn back to grief and that it would be her fault when it did. "But... I don't think it'll work, with... with me and you."

Just like she'd thought, the joy vanished, but it was worse than she ever could have suspected. It was like she'd slapped him; he went completely still and the color drained from his face. "I see." Was he withdrawing into that impersonal shell that he'd hidden behind for the first few days, before she and John had seen him grieving for his shipmates? He knew she could see right through the mask, didn't he? But... but she didn't want him to have to hide himself away from her, she wanted him to still be her Dave.

"And by that, I mean... Dave, in a few weeks you'll be gone from here. I'll—" her voice trembled "I'll never see you again, forever. I—I can't bear the thought of that already, and I know it'll hurt you even more when you have to leave me behind and find someone new in Derse. Me, I can pine away after you as long as I want, because it's not like I have anything else to do, but you... you'll hurt so much, Dave, I don't want to look northwest and know that somewhere far from me, you're in pain and I can't help you. Is it really worth it?"

"You're worth it." His voice was the barest of whispers, scarcely audible over the soughing of the waves, but an immediate response before she'd even really finished speaking. Jade felt her breath catch in her throat.

"Dave..." she trailed off, not sure what to tell him. She wanted this, she wanted to be with him, but it was just going to hurt them both. They couldn't... could they? It wasn't going to work.

He came closer again, tentatively clasping her hands in his own and kneeling in front of her at the water's edge so that they were at eye-level with one another. "Jade, please..."

Her heart ached for him, and she wanted nothing more than to hold him. "I don't want you to hurt more than you have to," she started again, her voice soft and gentle, when he shook his head and touched a finger ever so carefully to her lips, hushing her before she could go on.

"That's not your choice," he said, leaning forward ever so slightly. "It's mine. May I...?"

Feeling a tear spill over, she closed her eyes and leaned in, kissing him this time instead. He seemed to relax against her, and his hands squeezed hers before letting go to slide around her back and run slender fingers through her hair gently, holding her close so very tenderly. When she pulled away, trembling with the effort not to let herself start crying—why did she feel so sad even though she was also so happy?—he hugged her close and rested his chin atop her head, his thumb stroking away the tears that escaped.

"We'll find a way," he murmured softly, so gentle and quiet that it was almost uncharacteristic. He must have truly been letting her see him at his most vulnerable, no masks in place. "And I won't stop loving you, either, no matter what comes. Sorry, Jade, you'll be stuck with me forever, if I have any say in the matter. Which I do."

She giggled a bit tearfully at that and held him tightly. "I think I'm okay with that." It wasn't the best thing, and it was going to be hard on both of them, that was for sure. But ... maybe she was okay with it. Maybe they would be okay. Maybe, just maybe, forever wasn't always a bad thing.

* * *

><p>The next few days were surprisingly relaxed. Jade was keeping a countdown in the back of her mind, even though she sometimes wanted to pretend that there was no time limit and John would just come back, no boat in tow, and they could continue being a family, without losing Dave. But she couldn't really do that, and even as her heart knew the coming and going of the tides, she could tell the passing of days as the moon waxed in the sky. It was probably a mermaid magic thing, but she just... <em>knew<em> these things. The sea was an extension of herself. And it helped her keep track of time, even when she didn't always want to.

"John probably reached Derse by now," she commented to Dave as they ate mangoes one day.

"Already?" he asked in surprise, stopping with a piece of fruit halfway to his mouth. "Is ridiculously fucking fast travel another storm-spirit thing?"

Jade laughed and nodded, licking juice from her fingers. "He can literally turn into the wind, you know. So he can travel pretty fast! It'll just take forever for the return trip because your ships are soooo slow."

"I'm pretty sure everything we humans can try to do on the water is slow to a _fucking mermaid_," he pointed out, harsh words assuaged by the fondness she could hear underlying them.

"And you'd be right about that!" she laughed again, reaching out to playfully poke his shoulder with one of her less-sticky fingers. "But I give you permission to make fun of my ability to walk."

"Oh, please. You might just throw seashells at me or something until I did. Or coconuts. Damn, I bet getting hit by a coconut would hurt like a bitch." He scoffed lightly and took another bite of his mango slice.

"It does," Jade agreed thoughtfully. Dave leveled a stare at her.

"You've been hit by a coconut," he said disbelievingly, raising one eyebrow.

"One word: John," was her only comment.

"Oh." It was a monosyllabic answer that held all the question in the world. He shifted his posture, too, indicating just as clearly as if he'd said it that he wanted to hear this story.

"Oh, indeed," she giggled. "My brother is such a silly boy, I swear! He didn't mean to do it, to give him _some _credit, he just didn't notice that while juggling a bunch of winds he was rustling a tree that was above the tide pool where I was looking at some barnacles, and _kaboom_! Coconut attack." Accentuating the _kaboom_ with wide gestures from her hands, Jade accidentally flung a slippery piece of ripe mango straight onto Dave's face, where it comically stuck for a second before falling to the ground. She burst into laughter.

"Really," he sighed in exaggerated consternation as he wiped the golden juice from his cheek. "Dammit Jade, this shit is sticky."

"But delicious," she contended, holding up a finger. "Never forget how good fresh mangoes are." Oh nooo, she had just reminded herself of one of their first conversations, when he told her he'd never had fresh mangoes because Derse was too cold to grow them! Now she was going to make herself sad again.

"Dersite mangoes will be a fucking disappointment," he said drolly, most likely thinking of the same thing. "But don't worry. How could I ever forget my first day with you?"

Aw, he was being cute and sweet again! Jade scooted over the sand to rest her head on his shoulder. "Eating mangoes will be so lonely without sharing them with someone so cool, I bet."

"I'm so cool it's surprising that your mangoes even ripen when I'm around," she heard him say, his voice light with a smile in it as he wrapped an arm loosely around her waist.

"Maybe ... Maybe you're so cool that they _wouldn't _ripen except that your influence makes them want to be as cool as you so they do," she tried. Irony was Dave's thing, but she wasn't very good at it. It didn't stop her from making attempts, though!

He laughed at that, shaking his head. "I'll give you credit for trying, but oh my god that was so bad! Just stick to... whatever it is that you do in the future." Apparently her attempts at ironic circular reasoning... _un_reasoning, rather, were extremely amusing. Oh well. Jade stuck out her tongue at him impudently.

"Well, at least I can _swim_," she pointed out, poking his knee.

"At least _I _can _walk_," he retorted with a similar poke to her tail, though there was no heat in his voice. (He was too cool for that, right?)

"Wow, Dave! So mean!" she teased, laughing as she playfully smacked his shoulder. It was easy to fall back into their little happy leisurely routines, so she didn't even think before adding "But I love you anyway," and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

It was only a moment later that she froze and wondered if she shouldn't have said it, but it was already said and done so she should just move on, and pretend it wasn't a big deal, shouldn't she...? Hurriedly she forced a giggle and said, "You taste like mangoes."

Dave either had wordlessly agreed to pretend there was no problem between them—the unresolved issue of what they were going to do, even though they knew they loved each other in the I'm-in-love-with-you-romantically way, not the I-love-you-like-I-love-John way, still loomed ever closer as the days drew on—or really not noticed her hesitation, because he just said matter of factly, "That's because you threw a fucking mango at my head, remember?"

"Oh, yes, how could I forget the face you just made?" Just like that, her laughter was genuine again. "You're so silly, Dave!"

"I make silly the epitome of fucking cool though," he contended, sucking the last bit of juice from his fingers.

"Yes, you do," Jade laughed. "Now, I don't know about you, but I do not like being all sticky from mangoes! I'm going swimming. Wanna come?" She held out a hand, already shifting back towards the enticingly wet and cool waves rather than sitting on the sandy, uncomfortably dry beach, even if it was under the shade of a palm tree.

"Yeah, sure," he placed his hand in hers, and both of them splashed into the ocean with bright, carefree laughter.

* * *

><p>The next few weeks passed quickly, far too quickly for Jade's liking. She enjoyed every moment, but wished they would at least last longer! It was strange—as soon as one wanted to hold onto time, it just started slipping away all the more speedily. Both she and Dave somehow reached a wordless agreement to keep pushing the discussion they really needed to have away and focus on the here and now and the happiness they could have in the moment, not what they needed to do in the future.<p>

It was blissful while it lasted, at least, but one early, early morning—Jade was awake to go check on her tidepool organisms as the tide went out, just after dawn, while Dave was still sleeping away in the cave—there was a yell from a voice she hadn't heard in far too long, and suddenly a gust of wind scooped her clean out of the water into John's arms, where he spun her around with a great big grin and laughter while she squealed in first surprise and then glee.

"John! You're home!" she gasped, flinging her arms around his neck and hanging on tightly even though she knew he wouldn't drop her.

"Yup, I'm home!" he agreed brightly, enthusiasm radiating from him like light from the sun. "I missed you so, so much!"

"Not as much as I missed you," she bubbled with joy, grinning. "So where's the ship?"

"It'll be here soon, in a couple of hours or something like that! I flew ahead because I just wanted to get home," John said with an air of _sorry-not-sorry_ as he beamed. "Where's Dave?"

"Still sleeping, that lazyhead," she giggled, casting a look down at the water below for a moment before looking back to John's face. "We can go wake him up, if you want, or you can come check tidepools with me—"

Her sentence was cut off when John said, "Let's wake him up!" and zoomed higher into the air. Jade shrieked, clinging to him.

"_Jooohn! _Put me down, mermaids _do not flyyyy_!" she screamed as the ground grew more and more distant as the wind rushed by, whistling in her ears. John just laughed.

"Don't worry, I won't drop you!" he assured her with a cocky grin that she just wanted to smack off his face, except that she didn't dare release her grip on his shoulders to do so. "But here's the fun part!"

"Fun part? Oh no, no, no _no no_—" her words were once again swallowed by a scream as John stopped flying, laughing loudly as he let them both fall freely down towards the crystalline lagoon far below. As the water neared, faster and faster, Jade readied herself for a painful impact, but just before they made contact with the surface John caught them both, slowing to a stop so that her tail and his feet were just barely skimming the surface of the waves. Jade took a deep breath and slowly, slowly relaxed her death grip on his shoulders, feeling her heart pounding.

"Well, between us both—mostly you, though, I didn't even know you could be that loud—I guess that should have woken him up," John said cheerfully. Jade did smack him this time.

"You and I are going to go for a _swim_ sometime soon," she informed him and watched gleefully as his face took on a worried bluish pallor.

But he was right, because Dave did come stumbling out into the sunlight, frantically looking around for her—probably worried because she'd been screaming like she was going to _die_, thanks a _lot_, John—until his gaze swept over the lagoon, and he saw a mermaid floating above the water in the grip of a storm spirit. That was probably one of the weirder things to wake up to, especially for a human.

"Aw look, he's probably about to tell me hi," John said with a goofy grin as he watched Dave's posture change from worried to bewildered.

"_John?_" echoed the voice from the shoreline. "_What the fucking hell?_"

Jade laughed. "Nice greeting," she murmured to her brother, who huffed.

"Don't make me drop you," he jokingly warned.

"Oh, please! As if it'd be a big deal if you did, we're literally right above the water, silly!"

John let go of her just for a fraction of a second, smirking as she squeaked and clutched at him.

"You big jerk!" she giggled, ruffling his hair. "Let's go meet Dave—oh... and there's something I need to talk to you about, too."

The teasing grin dropped from his face, replaced by concern. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh... kind of," she admitted. "I'll tell you details later, but... um... jeez, this is awkward to say! Um, me and Dave sort of... I mean, Dave and I are like... oh gosh, how do you say it?"

"Jade," he interrupted, incredulity growing in his expression. "Are you trying to tell me that you guys, like... are a _couple_?"

"Um, yeah, pretty much," she hung her head, leaning against his chest. "But he's leaving, you know... and I don't know what to do..."

"Oh man, Jade, how do you even get yourself this kind of problem? I leave you guys alone just for a little while, and then suddenly this..." he sighed. "Okay, we'll figure something out, I guess. We'll get something worked out that's good for everyone!"

"I hope so," she said. "But that aside, I'm just so happy you're back!"

"I'm really happy to be back!" he smiled.

John flew back to shore, placing her gently in the water when they got closer, and they both approached Dave with matching grins.

"Hi, Dave!" John greeted excitedly, gliding straight up to the other boy to hug him tightly. "How's it been on the island?"

"Uh, interesting," Dave hedged, looking at Jade with a delicately raised eyebrow over John's shoulder, as if to ask _did you tell him?_

Jade shrugged, making a "kind-of" hand gesture before adding a _I don't really know_ motion helplessly.

"What do you mean, 'interesting'?" John asked, pulling away and still grinning brightly. "Did you guys have fun without me?"

"Yes," Dave said with a straight face. "We had so much fun, you can't even imagine. Eating mangoes and all sorts of super enjoyable shit, and swimming because that's pretty much what mermaids are good at—"

"Hey! I'm good at other stuff too," Jade interrupted, narrowing her eyes playfully. "Don't make me come over there, mister!"

Dave just flashed her what she had come to realize was his signature smirk, a cocky half-smile that seemed to fit quite naturally on his pale face. "Whatever you say, Jade."

"Jo-ohn," Jade complained. "Dave's being rude!"

As the banter continued, the mermaid slowly fell silent and just contemplated her brother and her—best friend? Romantic partner? What was Dave to her now, anyway?—as he and John went back and forth in front of her. It was much easier, she'd found, to pretend that they would just click back into place and become a happy trio again, rather than to acknowledge that in a few hours Dave would be leaving, forever. Couldn't she just hide behind illusions and cling to their last few moments together?

It was confusing because she didn't know what she and Dave were to each other anymore. They cuddled a lot, they kissed sometimes, which was definitely new to her but pretty enjoyable, and sweet, and it was pretty much like they were romantically involved, but would they stay that way? She really wanted them to, but he was _leaving _soon. There was no way. So were they just going to never see each other again? It would be really sad, but it was probably for the better. No, no it wasn't, she was going to miss him so awfully much even if they were just friends, which they _weren't_. They were some sort of ... significant others, if that was the right word, to each other, and it was going to be absolutely terrible when he left!

She'd never really noticed how lonely the island was before. John was her brother and she loved him with all her heart and she never wanted to let him go, but... she dearly longed for a larger family, a larger circle of friends. But this island was her home, and she should be happy here, right?

"Jade? Helloooo?" John waved at her. "You're just staring out to sea again!"

"Sorry, sorry," she quickly shook her head, laughing. "Just thinking about stuff! What were you saying?"

"I was _saying_," John repeated, "that the boat is going to be here in a few hours! Oh, Dave, your sister came, too. She seemed really, really happy when she found out you weren't dead!"

"Most sisters probably would," Dave shrugged, but he looked happy. "Did she talk your ear off about random creepy shit?"

John laughed. "Only a little. I think you'll like her, Jade! Her name's Rose."

With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach though she didn't know why, Jade smiled wanly. "I hope so, I'd like to meet her."

* * *

><p>As it turned out, Jade did indeed like this girl Rose from Derse. She was very literary and also was one of the few humans with a gift in magic, being a seer, from what Jade knew of her from Dave. She was also quite pretty, with short, light hair that floated gracefully about her head whenever she moved and a dark dress tied with a lavender sash.<p>

The first thing she did when the ship arrived was jump into the shallows, run onto the shore, and hug Dave tightly. He seemed frozen for a moment, but only for a moment, and he held her close, resting his cheek against her temple.

"It's good to see you alive," she told him when they released each other.

"Man, you wouldn't believe me if I told you how nice it is to be alive," he replied in his usual cavalier fashion, shrugging as if to say _no big deal_.

Rose raised one of her delicately arched eyebrows, her bright smile diminishing to be replaced by the slightest of frowns. "Oh, really? I think you might find that statement untrue, dear brother mine. I don't know how much _you _can comprehend how happy everyone was when a storm spirit of all people showed up after _eight months_ and told us that you were not only alive, but also perfectly fine and having the time of your life on a secluded island!" Her lips were thin, pressed together in anger as she regarded him. "No matter how glad I am that you're alright, Dave, I am also furious that you took eight months to even bother to tell us that you were alive."

Jade and John hung back a bit awkwardly, exchanging glances. In front of them, Dave flinched, holding up his hands placatingly.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry, Rose!" he said defensively. "I wasn't thinking straight, I admit. For a long time I didn't even know if I wanted to come home again. But can we save the arguing for later, just this once? We have all the damn time in the world on the way home to yell at each other."

Rose crossed her arms, pursing her lips, and finally nodded. "I'm not going to _yell_ at you. I just want to talk. But yes, we can do that later." She paused, and her expression gentled. "Dave... I _am _glad to see you again."

He smiled, just barely, and squeezed her hands. "Yeah. I'm glad to see you too."

The Dersite princess turned then to face John and Jade, offering them both a smile. "So, you must be Jade," she said. "I've heard a lot about you."

Jade wrinkled her nose. "I hope it was mostly good!" she joked.

Rose laughed. "Yes, it was. Your brother seems to care for you a great deal."

"He'd better," Jade teased, looking up at John fondly. "Because the seas know I love him way too much for someone who drops coconuts on my head."

"That was only twice!" John objected.

"John," Rose said with amusement, "dropping a coconut on your sister's head is _not _the best way to make her happy with you. Especially not twice."

Jade laughed. "I like you," she told Rose. It was too bad that they would be leaving soon, because she was pretty sure that she and Rose could have become best friends or something if they had more time!

"Thank you," the other girl said with a demure smile. "I find your company enjoyable as well, and you certainly do have a nice place to live, even if it is ridiculously hard to find without a guide." She paused. "There's something, though... I can't put my finger on it..."

"What do you mean?" John asked. "Is it your seer thingy acting funny?"

Rose's eyes danced with mirth as she laughed. "I suppose you could put it that way, yes."

"What's up?" Dave asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I'm not completely sure," the blonde confessed. "Something about..." she trailed off, examining her surroundings, before her focus settled on Jade. "Something about you."

"Me?" Jade asked, taken aback. "What did I do?"

"I don't know, but something seems off. I don't mean to say that it's your fault... give me a moment." Rose closed her eyes, going completely still as the wind gently tousled her hair. After a moment, she opened them again, an expression of shock crossing her face. "I—I can't believe this! But the visions have never been wrong before, even when I doubted them..."

"Rose," Dave interrupted. "What did you see?"

"She's not supposed to be a mermaid," Rose said slowly. "She's supposed to be the long-lost princess of Prospit."

There was a moment of absolute silence save for the wind and the waves, and then Jade shattered it by diving back into the sea with a splash.

To say that Jade was thunderstruck by this revelation might have been an understatement. It was preposterous! She was a _mermaid_ and not a princess, and she had lived with John almost all her life and before that she'd lived...

...off the coast of Prospit.

Oh.

And now that she thought about it, as she sat underwater where she had immediately fled before anyone could say anything, just so that she could be alone to think before rejoining the conversation, it really did make sense. It explained why she didn't know much of anything about her family that she'd always assumed she had lived with in the town of merfolk, and it explained why her earliest memories that she'd always thought of as dreams involved running down great golden halls that had windows opened to the blue skies.

Was it true? Was her whole life some kind of set-up? But if she was supposed to be a human, and a princess of Prospit, too, why did she have a tail instead of legs? It made absolute sense one moment, and then it didn't. Maybe Rose had more answers.

With a sigh, she straightened her tail and pushed off from the sandy seafloor, breaking the surface quietly and swimming back to shore. Dave, Rose, and John were still sitting on the beach now, even though it was late evening and the stars were starting to shine off in the east. She swam into the shallows and then let the waves carry her forward onto the sand, pulling herself forward to sit next to John and dripping all over him.

"Jade," he complained, tossing a lock of her sopping hair from his shoulder, but with no real annoyance.

"I apologize," Rose told her, lavender eyes full of contrition. "I should have phrased that more gently rather than dropping it on you."

"It's okay," Jade shrugged. "It probably would have had the same effect on me either way! I just don't understand. It kind of makes sense, but... if I'm supposed to be a human princess, why do I have a tail?"

Rose sighed. "I don't know, to be honest. I tried to See more closely, but all I could glean right now was that it would make more sense if I went to Prospit. Which is why, actually, I would like to ask you... I realize this is a bit sudden as well, but do you want to come with us?"

Jade was silent for a few moments. John gave her a side-hug and murmured, "I'll come if you decide to go."

There were too many unanswered questions now, and someone with a mind as analytical as Jade would never be able to rest with the knowledge that she'd had the opportunity to find things out and had passed it up. Plus, she was curious now about ... did she have another family? What was her past now? Her interest was piqued, and she knew her mind was already made before she said a word.

Jade cast a quick look at Dave. He gave her a reassuring half-smile coupled with the barest of nods.

"Okay," she said finally. "I'll do it—we'll do it."

* * *

><p>They began preparations to leave for Derse late the next morning, as soon as Rose dragged Dave back from the realms of slumber by enlisting Jade to splash him, which the mermaid did quite cheerfully.<p>

"Augh! God, why did anyone think it was ever a good idea to let you two meet?" he gasped, sitting bolt upright as Rose and Jade laughed.

"John was right," Jade said with a grin. "I do like your sister, Dave! And we get to travel back together. I bet we'll be great friends, too!"

Rose looked down at her with a little smile. "I think so as well. Dave, don't give me that look, I'm perfectly allowed to befriend your mermaid beloved."

"_What?_" Dave squawked, the indignation at his rude awakening completely forgotten by this stunning revelation that surely left everyone present amazed and blown away. "You know about that!?"

Rose sighed, shaking her head, a small smile playing about her lips. "Seventeen years you have lived with me, and yet still you forget. Dearest brother mine, I _am_ a seer, remember?"

"Fuck you," Dave huffed, crossing his arms as water dripped from his hair.

"And also," Rose continued cheerfully, "Even if that were to be untrue, Jade and I _do _have the ability to talk to each other, you know. We've been spending all morning getting to know each other! You miss things like that when you sleep in so much."

"No, really. Fuck you."

"Dave!" Jade scolded, flicking more water at her friend-romantic-interest-whatever-he-was-to-her-at-this-point-if-there-was-even-a-word-for-it (this was so confusing!). "That is not how you talk to your sister if you haven't seen her in eight months. Be nice!"

"Have I yet mentioned that I think the two of us will be the best of friends?" Rose laughed, looking down at Jade again with a smile.

"I'd like to not think about that, thanks," Dave replied sardonically. "I figure it won't end well for me." He shook his head to one side to toss the wet hair from his forehead, which wasn't too effective.

Jade flicked water at him again, giggling, before she reached up and stroked the hair aside. "Best friends!" she agreed. "Are we about to leave? Because otherwise, I could show you the mango grove, Rose!"

Looking over to her new best friend, Jade beamed. She'd thought about it a lot, but she hadn't realized just how much she loved having new people to meet and be around. Yeah, she just totally wanted a large family! John and her and Dave and Rose and a bunch of other siblings, that would be perfect. But even just right now, she was so happy to have made another friend! Rose was pretty much the only girl Jade had really ever _talked _to, about anything. They'd been up since about sunrise, and they'd just talked about everything under the sun, from life on the island to court dances in Derse to different books, though Jade admittedly had limited experience there. But Rose had promised to lend her several, for which she was glad! Books were amazing. Jade loved books.

"Mango grove?" Rose asked, tilting her head to one side ever so slightly. It was a habit Dave had, to a degree, and Jade recognized it as interested curiosity. "We scarcely ever get fresh mangoes in Derse."

"So Dave has told me," Jade giggled. "It's such a pity! They are so good. You poor people in Derse don't know what you're missing. Come on, we can have breakfast over there and then leave!"

"That sounds sublime," the human girl agreed. "It won't hurt if we take a few minutes. But we have to leave with the tide."

"Even if we miss it by a little, it won't be that big a deal," Jade shrugged as she began to back out into the main lagoon to lead the way to the grove. "I can help with that, you know."

"You can?" Rose inquired, her head tilting to the side again. Jade giggled at that.

"Yeah! It's _mermaid magic_," she grinned, wiggling her slightly-webbed-fingers mysteriously. "I can manipulate water, to some extent! It's how I keep my books dry and stuff."

"Really?" Rose asked, intrigued. "I wonder if... hm, no, we can discuss that at length later. Let's go see this mango grove."

"This way!" Jade beamed, floating into the sunlight that danced dazzlingly on the waves.

When they returned from the mango grove, happily having eaten a great number of sticky golden fruits and carrying several more to take on the trip back to Derse, too, John was waiting. The tide was about to start going out, and it was almost perfect timing—Jade had counted on it, really, because she _knew_ the tides on her island. She had lived here all her life, and she _was _a mermaid, jeez!—as they boarded the ship and prepared to sail. Jade remained in the water below, eagerly examining every inch of the craft from the surface and under the water.

"Excited?" John asked when her head popped up again. He was once again perched just above the waves, looking completely at ease as he reclined on thin air. Jade grinned up at him.

"Yup!" she beamed. "This is like when we went out before, but more... more adventurous! And more friends. It'll be so fun! I wonder how long we'll be gone."

"Jade," he frowned slightly. "Did you just forget the part where we're going because you're actually a missing princess or something?"

"Oh," she said. "I actually kind of had... oh no, do you think we'll never come back?" It was a kind of frightening prospect, and in her enthusiasm she hadn't really thought about it. But this island was... this was their island! They would come home soon. They were just going to go figure things out, and then they would come home. Right?

"I don't know," John said. "It's possible."

"I want to come back at some point," she shook her head. "This is home. This is our island! We can't just..." Uncertain, she didn't bother finishing the sentence. She was a princess, from Prospit, which was far away from here! If and when they figured out what the whole deal with her not having legs was, there would really be no reason for her to come home to her island anymore. She would be staying there instead.

As she trailed off, Rose's head appeared over the railing. "We're leaving now!" she called down. "You have everything that you need to take, right?"

"Yup!" John called back cheerfully. "I already stuffed our things in with Dave's."

"Brilliant," Rose smiled down at him. She had a very pretty smile, Jade noticed. Dimples and everything. Was this going to be a long trip? Hopefully not, but all the same, it would at least provide a good opportunity to get to know the enigmatic princess of Derse better. They'd joked to tease and poke at Dave, but she was earnestly sure that they _could _be the best of friends!

Jade drew a bit away from the ship as they set sail, knowing that it was generally dangerous to be too close to a sailing vessel, even though she was a mermaid and could have easily swum alongside without too much trouble. But she just wanted a little bit of alone time, or at least her-and-John time, so they could catch up and talk, just the two of them. It would be nice to spend some time with her beloved brother again. They had a lot to discuss.

* * *

><p>Dersite waters were significantly cooler than the ones Jade was used to. This was the first thing she noticed when they arrived, or at least when they had almost arrived—it wasn't so much that Derse was a lot further to the cold north, but rather that a cold current from the north circulated much cooler water around its coast, while a warm jet stream kept Prospit, just across a relatively narrow sea, nice and warm.<p>

"Oh, yeah, I probably should have warned you about that," John laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, when she popped above the surface, shivering, to complain.

"How am I supposed to stay in this water the whole time?" she asked, wrapping her arms around herself to futilely try and retain whatever body heat she could. It wasn't her fault that part of her was endothermic and the other half wasn't! "It's way too cold! And it's _autumn_, so it's only going to get colder the longer we're here!"

"Uh... maybe we can get you into the palace in a hot tub or something," he blinked.

"Would anyone be offended if I just swam to Prospit?" Jade huffed, looking across the water longingly. The Golden City, also known as Prospit City or just the capital of Prospit, wasn't too far away, at least not as the mermaid swam, and she could make it after a night's rest. And it would be sooo much more comfortable there! She could feel the currents winding around in the ocean around her, and the warmth of Prospit's waters were beckoning enticingly.

"You're not swimming to Prospit tonight," John said, crossing his arms and frowning down at her. "You are already way too tired for that and—hey, don't you give me that look, I know you well enough to say you need to get some sleep!"

As much as she might have wanted to complain, it was true. Exhaustion was weighing her down, and she just wanted to curl up with a warm blanket of some sort and close her heavy-feeling eyes and just rest for a few days. Swimming from the island to Derse wasn't the worst part; it was having to pace herself and almost swim laps to keep from outdistancing the ship too much.

Later in the day as the ship docked, she drew herself onto a beach near the harbor, still shivering from the cold water. It was going to be awful staying here for a while... Her homesickness was increasing already. John was over talking with Rose, and Jade sighed, pulling her tail up against her body as closely as she could to conserve warmth and wrapping her arms around herself again.

She was surprised, but pleasantly so, when a warm jacket was draped about her shoulders, accompanied by a warm arm attached to a warm body.

"Nice to see you too," Dave chuckled as she hurriedly drew the jacket around herself and snuggled into him, leeching all heat possible. When she settled into a comfortable position, he gently slid his other arm around her, too, holding her close against his chest. A heartbeat of quiet passed relatively comfortably before he broke the silence, saying quietly, "You've been avoiding me."

"I..." Well, it was honestly kind of true. She'd talked to Rose a little bit almost every day, both of them laughing as Rose leaned over the side of the ship and Jade swam alongside, or that one time that Rose had looped a rope around her waist and climbed overboard to swim along with her. And of course Jade had spent as much time as she could with John. But she hadn't known what to say to Dave, not really, so she'd just... swum away from her problems. But now they had caught up with her, and there was no swimming away this time, not in that cold water, no thank you!

So she sighed, resting her head in the crook of his neck, and nodded slightly. "Yeah. I have."

"And?" He seemed almost hesitant to ask, afraid of her answer. Was he worried that she was going to tell him that she didn't love him anymore or something?

"And..." she sighed again. "I don't know. I guess this is a good a time as any other to talk, huh?"

"We probably need to figure our shit out at some point," he said, leaning his cheek against her sopping hair for a moment. It was a tender gesture, and a little seed of warmth blossomed in her core, affection for her beloved Dave gently rushing through her like a growing wave on a calm day.

"Yeah," she nodded again, feeling a slight thrill of anxiety zing through her. If things didn't work out, might this be the last time she and Dave sat together like this and held each other and—no, she shouldn't worry like that. "So? What do you think we should do?"

"My opinion has not changed one fucking bit," he replied. "I'm still pretty damn in love with you and I'm willing to break rules or whatever shitty stupid things here might prevent me from being in love with a fucking mermaid. I told you, you're stuck with me forever. Being back in Derse hasn't changed a thing."

"It changed the water temperature," she said sadly, staring out to sea so mournfully that Dave began to laugh.

"What do you think?" he finally asked after a moment, trepidation underlying his voice just slightly. Jade hugged him reassuringly.

"I... I still love you too. But I want to find out what Rose was talking about when she said I'm supposed to be from Prospit. And I don't know if we can make future plans until that's figured out." As for Dave having to leave her behind, well, that apparently wasn't really happening after all, was it? She'd followed him back to Derse, after all. It would take more than a sea voyage to rid him of his mermaid! "But until then, I still love you, and I'm happy with us being... us," she added with a smile. She liked saying that, really. _I love you, I love you, I love you._

"So until we figure out said shit, we're still good?" he asked, seeming much more at ease.

Jade smiled, nodding once more in his arms. "Yup. We're still great. I'm... I'm happy."

"Me too," he said, and she could just tell he was smiling, one of those rare smiles of his that was an actual, real true smile, not that little cocky smirk. Not wanting to miss it, she twisted around in his grasp to face him, sliding her arms around his waist under the jacket and thin cloak. He was smiling indeed, just like she'd suspected, and it made her smile too. When he kissed her, soft and gentle like he always did, she couldn't help but break away to laugh joyfully, just feeling an overwhelming surge of happiness.

"We're going to be okay," she told him, and he pulled her closer again for a quick second kiss.

"Yeah. Better than just a measly okay. We're going to rock this shit, just you wait."

"You both are really sweet together," Rose's voice observed thoughtfully, and they both jumped, Dave emitting a surprised squawk of indignance that elicited a bright laugh from Jade.

"Holy fucking _shit_, do you have a sense of timing or not?" he complained. "How long were you standing there, anyway?"

"Long enough," John grinned, forming out of a small gust of wind beside her. "But seriously. You guys _are_ pretty cute. I never thought I would ever say that about anyone and my _sister_, but it's true!"

"Thanks, John," Jade said wryly. "Now, can I have that hot tub?"

* * *

><p>In the end, Jade was brought to a warm pool in the Dersite palace itself. It felt weird, not being in open water with push and pull of the waves, but it was definitely preferable to the cold water outside, so she wasn't about to complain!<p>

She also found out that she was going to meet Dave and Rose's older brother, Crown Prince Dirk. He was nineteen years old, two years older than all of them, and when he turned twenty he was going to be coronated as King of Derse. It had to be a title that came with many responsibilities, Jade thought. Ruling a kingdom must be hard! Even if it did mean that you got a palace with a heated pool.

"What's your brother like?" she asked Dave eagerly one morning, her arms over the edge of the pool as she looked up at him, while he sat dangling his legs in the water.

He tilted his head ever so slightly in thought for a moment. "I dunno. He's pretty fucking cool, I guess. And also a goddamn badass if he can help it. He likes tinkering around with anything and everything, and he's also a fucking weirdo."

Jade laughed at that as she shifted to rest her chin on his knee, lacing her fingers in between his. "Sounds like you look up to him a lot."

"What? No, not really. He's awesome and all, but—"

"You've got that right," a new voice said. Jade looked up brightly to see another young man, though he was a little older than Dave, walking into the room gracefully. "Don't let Davey here fool you. I'm pretty sure I'm actually the center of his world." He sat down next to Dave, cross-legged, and smirked ever so slightly.

"Shut up, bro," Dave muttered. Was his face turning red? His face was turning red. Aw, he was blushing!

"You're sooo cute," Jade told him, and then giggled when he reached into the pool to flick water at her. Turning to his brother—this must be his brother, after all—she waved with the hand that wasn't holding Dave's. "You must be Prince Strider! Or, um, the other one at least. I'm Jade!"

"I hear you're the reason my idiot of a little bro—" he hooked an arm around Dave's shoulders, sending a pointed look his way before gracing Jade with a small smile "—is still breathing," he said. "Thank you. Our house is in your debt. And you can call me Dirk."

"Nice to meet you, Dirk!" she beamed. "And really, I'm happy to have at least saved someone." Her smile faded a bit as she thought about that awful night, but at least some good had come of it, right? Even the darkest storms brought something good out of the waves. And for her, that had been Dave!

"I have to ask, though, little bro," Dirk turned his head slightly to look at Dave, "exactly why you decided to take the better part of a year to let us know you were alive."

Jade slipped away a few feet, sliding under the water up to her chin, feeling like she was intruding on a conversation that should have been private. But if they were choosing to have it in front of her, well, then that was their decision, wasn't it? Nonetheless, she didn't want to stick her fins where they didn't belong. Dave cast her a plaintive look, as if to ask _why are you abandoning me with him?_ as she did, but she just gave him a nervous smile and flicked her tail under the water a bit.

"Uh..." Dave ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck. I... Fuck, bro, I made a mistake, okay?"

"Damn straight you did," Dirk said flatly. "And you owe Rose an apology, big-time."

"Why do I—oh," Dave suddenly paled, the indignant attitude draining from his frame to be replaced by shock and guilt. "Oh god. _Shit_."

"Yeah. Go talk to her. She's upset." Dirk released Dave, ushering him away, and waited until he had run from the room before he turned back to Jade, who was awkwardly drifting a few meters away from the pool's edge, uncertain. "My apologies that you had to see that," he said. "I had to come find Dave because Rose sure as hell wasn't going to."

"Siblings can be such a pain, huh?" she laughed slightly, giving him a cautious smile and floating closer to the edge again.

"Yeah," he huffed a laugh. "Your brother is the storm spirit, right?" He looked genuinely curious, and Jade found herself warming to him.

"Yes!" she answered with a grin. "His name is John, and he is a total dork. And I need to remember to take him swimming at some point."

"A storm spirit in the water?" Dirk raised an eyebrow in an expression Jade could tell Dave had picked up from him. "I was under the impression that storm spirits are most uncomfortable if they're not in the air. Unless I'm wrong, they aren't meant to swim."

"And _mermaids _are not meant to _fly_," she replied, crossing her arms. "So yes, I'm taking him swimming."

"That sounds like an interesting story," the crown prince commented after a moment. "Does it happen a lot?"

"Not a _lot_, but it has happened before," Jade laughed. "We didn't have a lot to do out on our island every day, so we resorted to pulling silly pranks. Sometimes he thinks it's great fun to take me up in the wind and go fly really high, and then drop back and almost hit the ocean. I think it's much more fun to take him in the water and go swim down into the coral reefs and see the fish."

Dirk snorted, his amber-colored eyes dancing with amusement. "Sounds like a party out there on middle-of-fucking-nowhere island."

"Yup! It's great fun," Jade grinned. "Sometime maybe you could come visit, too!"

"Oh, I don't think that'd happen anytime soon, however nice it might sound," he shook his head. "There's a lot of shit to get done in Derse, and sometimes it feels like I am literally the only guy here who can get shit done. It'll be a while until I can get a break long enough to do that. Eight months off sure would be fucking amazing, though."

"Oh, yeah... about that," Jade asked a little bit hesitantly, fidgeting with her fins, "um, why did Dave leave in the first place? If there's a lot for you to do, then couldn't he have been helping you?"

"He usually did," Dirk shrugged. "He was running away, actually. Did he not tell you?"

"No, and I never asked," she said thoughtfully. "I always had just assumed it was a general traveling ship and he was just going somewhere, but... John mentioned to me that when he'd been talking to Rose that she gave the impression it wasn't. Why was he running away?" The idea of abandoning home and family was kind of a deeply unsettling one to Jade. It didn't sit well with her and she couldn't for the life of her understand why Dave would do such a thing.

Dirk sighed. "I honestly don't know. He was confused, he didn't like being a prince, because it meant he was tied down to one particular destiny or whatever bullshit, and he just wanted to go off and do his own thing. The way he did this whole thing was stupid as hell though. He could have just talked to me, and it would have been fine. Hell, he wouldn't have hurt Rose so bad, too."

"Hurt Rose?" Jade asked anxiously. "Is she okay? She did seem kind of prickly..."

He laughed slightly. "Well, she's always a bit prickly. That's just how she is. She's told me that you know she's a seer, at least, and that should clue you in. She and Dave are twins, so she's pretty sensitive to him normally, but the last she Saw of him was the storm and the ship breaking apart, and when we tried to find records that would make that a bad dream, we instead found out it was true and that the ship went down with no recorded survivors."

Jade's eyes widened. "I'd... I'd never really even thought about that... oh, no. That's awful!"

"Which is why I sent him to go apologize. The least he could have done is mention that he was alive before eight months passed. We were both pretty damn sure he was dead until your brother showed up."

"I'm glad we could help," Jade smiled. "But, um, on the note of Rose being a seer and all that, did she... mention that she had a vision about me and all that?"

"Yeah," Dirk nodded. "Princess of Prospit and all that. But she has no idea why you're a mermaid. You know, I do vaguely remember you from some state function years ago, and I'm pretty sure you had fucking legs, not a tail."

"I have no idea," Jade shrugged. "I've had a tail most of my life! I barely remember anything about Prospit." It was kind of disconcerting to know that she was going to return to a home she hardly knew, but she was kind of excited, too. And she did have a few scarcely-there recollections of gold and glitter under bright blue skies, people garbed in colorful clothes, and sometimes a hand in hers with bright laughter echoing through the rooms.

"I'll arrange passage for Rose to accompany you to Prospit in a few days, as soon as I get a response from Jake. Dave, however, will be staying here. Little bro and I need to have a nice, long _chat_." Dirk shook his head, glancing once at the door that Dave had exited through.

"Please don't beat him up too much," Jade requested hurriedly, remembering how Dave had once mentioned that he had always "had his ass handed to him by bro" every time they got into some sort of fight. Dirk laughed.

"Not _too_ much, fine. I guess I can agree to that."

Jade laughingly nodded. A moment of silence fell between them until she looked up at him curiously again to ask a question that was nagging at her. "By the way, who's Jake?" she inquired curiously. Another vague memory of golden halls drifted through her mind, and the name tugged at something she could barely recall, the memory of that same laughter and a hand in hers, tugging her about for some game or other... she _knew _Jake somehow.

Dirk gave her a strange look. "You don't know? Jake's your older brother. He's the Crown Prince of Prospit."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Oh my gosh, thanks to everyone for support and reviews and everything! I didn't quite expect such an outpouring of love for this little story, but wow was I blown away by you guys being so nice. Thank you so much once again, you're all wonderful people, and in keeping with my theme of virtual food for people who are nice to me, I'll gift everyone with ripe sweet lovely mangoes. Mangoes are so good.<em>

_Anyway, here's part two! :D I hope you like it, too! I had a lot of fun writing all the fluff. Soooo much fluff. It's adorable. _

_Part three is probably going to take a few more days because I haven't written it yet, haha! It's about 10k words too, just like these two, so it's going to be a little bit. But rest assured, it will happen! If I don't have it out by Saturday, well... I will be a bad person. I really want to have it out by Saturday. ;D_


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